New York is having a huge real-estate boom at the moment, with new buildings gong up all over the city. Old Structures does not, of course, work on those new buildings but we have still been involved: we have been working on protecting the neighboring buildings. In some cases we have been working for developers who want to minimize the effect of their construction on their neighbors (“enlightened self-interest” is probably the best description of this motive) but usually we’re working for the neighbors.
I’ve written here about historic preservation as part of community preservation. With neighboring-construction projects that’s literally true, as we are working solely on protecting buildings that are not being worked on and so would not otherwise be projects for us. This past spring, I spoke to a number of homeowners in Brooklyn to explain some the of the physical and legal issues that come up when your neighbor renovates. No large projects have come our way as the result of that talk, and we didn’t expect any, but maybe it helped reduce some future conflicts. And what’s good for Clinton Hill is good for the city and therefore worth talking about as part of the Best for NYC Challenge.
